A second Ginger Man to pour into Midtown
Rice Village pub will have a sister location, offering cocktails and a kitchen as well as beer
The Ginger Man, a Rice Village fixture that helped introduce a generation of Houstonians to a world of beer outside of Bud, Coors and Miller, is getting a new sibling in a growing family of specialty pubs competing with a proliferation of new bars and craft breweries.
The purveyor of import and premium craft beers will open its second Houston pub later this week, at 160 W. Gray in Midtown. The move is the latest expansion for the Ginger Man brand, which will have seven bars in Texas and three in the Northeast.
The Midtown pub will be the chain’s first in Texas to offer cocktails and a full-service kitchen. It will also feature lounge and bar seating, four different patios, a dart area and a second-story balcony with downtown views. Its modern design stands in contrast to the rustic, Old World feel of the Rice Village location, which opened in 1985 as the original Ginger Man.
“We have a good, strong vision of what the Ginger Man is, and we’re not chasing the trends,” spokeswoman Lindsay Whitman said. “Our main focus is still serving good beer in a good atmosphere. We still are passionate about serving the right beer in the right glass at the right temperature.”
The company recently sold its Rice Village property, 5607 Morningside Drive, to Braun Enterprises, and is leasing it from the Houston-based developer. Zach Wolf of Braun Enterprises declined to share plans for the site, but he stressed that the Ginger Man “is not going anywhere.”
Whitman, the G-Man’s director of training and events, was quick to assure longtime customers that the original is in no danger of closing.
“We have no intentions of doing anything with that as far as
shutting down,” she said. “We’re tenants now instead of landowners.”
But it, too, could soon have cocktails on the menu as the owners seek an additional liquor license. Whitman said the plan is to include liquor and broader food service at as many of its existing pubs as possible.
In Midtown the company transformed the former Junction Bar & Grill, which closed last year, into a modern-style locale with higher bar tables, seats with soft cushions, dark woods and gray colors, Whitman said. The food menu includes bar food from chicken wings to beet salad.
The Ginger Man hopes its revamped look and expanded offerings will help capture new customers, who might have passed over the pub in the past, Whitman said.
“We wanted to make sure we offered something for everybody,” she said. “Now, you can get a cocktail and some lunch or dinner.”
When the Rice Village pub opened in 1985, it was one of the first multi-tap bars in the U.S. to offer different styles of beers, providing Houstonians with a discerning palate a fairly unmatched experience.
Since then, there’s been a renaissance of bars and craft breweries, from downtown to the suburbs, offering food trucks and outdoor patios.
Whitman did not provide numbers on Ginger Man sales. She said the Houston expansion has been in the works for the past five years.
“We were looking for a long time in Houston to expand but wanted to find the right spot in the right neighborhood,” she said. “We think the Ginger Man fits the Midtown neighborhood and clientele well.”
The Ginger Man has steadily expanded across Texas and beyond. It added a bar in Dallas in 1992, Austin in 1993, Fort Worth in 2007, Plano in 2009 and Southlake in 2012. There are Ginger Man bars in New York, Boston and Greenwich, Conn., as well. Whitman said there are plans to open a second Austinarea location later this year.
“We’ve seen success in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with four locations,” she said. “Houston is definitely big enough to have two locations.”